VacationSelector
The Warrior on a Horse, Macedonia Square, Skopje
SkopjeThe Warrior on a Horse, Macedonia Square
The Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky, Xi'an
Xi'anThe Bell Tower of Xi'an under a blue sky

Photos: Skopje by George M. Groutas, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Xi'an by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0, cropped.

Skopje or Xi'an?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Skopje for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Skopje’s own page.

Choose Xi'an for

  • culture and sights
  • day trips
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Xi'an’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Skopje 6, Xi'an 4: Skopje leads by 2 points.
Food & drink. Skopje 52, Xi'an 70: Xi'an leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Skopje 56, Xi'an 81: Xi'an leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Skopje and Xi'an are level on 42.
Nature & outdoors. Skopje 70, Xi'an 62: Skopje leads by 8 points.
Day trips. Skopje 56, Xi'an 80: Xi'an leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Skopje 35, Xi'an 48: Xi'an leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Skopje 45, Xi'an 66: Xi'an leads by 21 points.
Shopping & style. Skopje 40, Xi'an 50: Xi'an leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Skopje and Xi'an are level on 80.
Live music & performing arts. Skopje 38, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Skopje 27, Xi'an 40: Xi'an leads by 13 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Skopje and Xi'an.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Skopje
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and beaches with your weighting.

Xi'an
Best match
55match

Wins on culture and sights and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Skopje in July

32 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
31 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Xi'an in July

33 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
96 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
SkopjeXi'an

Where the figures come from

Skopje has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Skopje's sunshine is measured 68 km from the centre, at Stip.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Skopje: 1991-2020 (sunshine 1961-1990) normals, Skopje-Petrovec (18.3 km from centre). Xi'an: 1991-2020 normals, Xi'An (4.4 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSkopjeXi'an
Official languageAlbanian, MacedonianPutonghua
CurrencyDenar (MKD)Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzACI220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+8
Emergency number112Police 110, ambulance 120, fire 119
Elevation251 m405 m
Main airportSkopje International Airport (SKP)16 km from centre52 non-stop destinationsXi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)26 km from centre178 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days6 days

By the numbers

MeasureSkopjeXi'an
City population422,54012,952,907
People per km²7391,283
Museums within 10 km179
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km02

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Skopje or Xi'an somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.